Former President Donald Trump gobbled up online donations from grassroots Republicans in the third quarter, with his $24.7 million digital haul coming close to outpacing the three most prominent GOP campaign committees — combined.
The $24.7 million collected by Trump’s Save America committees tripled, roughly, the $8.3 million raised online by the Republican National Committee during the same period; ditto the $8.3 million brought in by the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP campaign arm. Additionally, the former president’s digital fundraising in July, August, and September more than doubled the $10 million accumulated online by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP campaign arm.
Trump lapping the three largest and most consequential Republican campaign committees in grassroots fundraising, including the party’s national committee, proves the former president continues to be the most influential figure with the GOP voting base.
Republican digital fundraising has been down this year, with party strategists who monitor online giving citing inflation, a struggling economy, and Trump, who, they say, has vacuumed up money that might have otherwise made its way to congressional candidates and the party committees. But they say that could be alleviated by the former president sharing the wealth down the stretch of the midterm elections battle as Republicans aim to win House and Senate majorities.
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“A former president will always do gangbusters,” a Republican strategist involved in congressional campaigns said, requesting anonymity to criticize Trump. “Now, it’s just a matter of getting the president to spend that money.”
The third-quarter digital donation totals for Trump, the RNC, NRCC, and NRSC — and used for this comparison — were raised through WinRed, the Republican-affiliated internet platform for processing small-dollar contributions. The figures were compiled from Federal Election Commission filings by Rob Pyers, research director at the California Target Book.
Trump has lately begun to invest in a handful of Senate races on behalf of candidates he endorsed in competitive primaries.
But that money is coming from a new pool of resources raised into a new super PAC, MAGA Inc., recently formed expressly for this purpose. The Save America committees had raised more than $130 million through Sept. 30 and, as of Aug. 31, reported nearly $93 million in cash on hand, a stockpile Trump could be reserving for a 2024 presidential bid. A spokesman for Trump did not respond to a text message requesting comment.
Meanwhile, Republican insiders are pleased with the growth of the party’s online fundraising generally after several years of Democratic dominance with ActBlue, the liberal digital platform that served as a model for WinRed, launched after the 2018 midterm elections.
WinRed announced it had funneled $444 million to GOP House and Senate campaigns alone from Jan. 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, a 47% leap over what the platform processed at the same point in 2020. In total, WinRed processed $534.4 million in donations for Republican candidates and groups broadly, including $208.7 million during the crucial third-quarter fundraising period, $94.4 million of which were made by first-time donors to the platform.
WinRed boasts an average, processed third-quarter contribution of $39.32. In order of how much was raised, the Republicans and GOP groups that raised the most via WinRed in July, August, and September included:
- Trump at $24.7 million
- NRSC at $10 million
- RNC and NRCC at roughly $8.3 million each
- Georgia Senate nominee Herschel Walker at $7 million
- Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) at $6.8 million
- Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) at $6 million
- Pennsylvania Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz at $5.8 million
- Nevada Senate nominee Adam Laxalt at $4 million
- Washington state Senate nominee Tiffany Smiley and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) at approximately $3.3 million each
- Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) at $3 million
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Since its inception in 2019, WinRed has processed $3.2 billion for Republican candidates and groups. ActBlue, around since 2004, has funneled $11.2 billion to Democratic candidates and groups during that time, including $213.4 million in August alone, the last month for which figures were available.
